Expert: Lorry - 1/20/2008

Question
I have this virus and have been unsuccessful at removing it. Adaware seems to only be able to get a piece of it. I have installed and run Highjackthis! and generated a log. Do you need to see this log? If not, what can I do to remove this virus? Thanks!

Answer
Hi Alicia,

Each antivirus program has different names for the same virus, saying that I would suggest that you do this, open Internet Explorer, go to:

http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?langid=ie&venid=sym

Click the GO button, then under Virus Detection, click Start. You might be told that you need to download and install ActiveX Controls for the scan to work, answer Yes.

Write down exactly anything it finds, then go to: http://www.symantec.com/search/  and do a search for what was found. Symantec usually has a removal tool and/or directions for removing manually. Make sure that you follow the instructions for removal, step by step, especially the part regarding disabling System Restore.

Most people run both Ad-Aware 2007 and Spybot Search & Destroy. Reason being is that Ad-Aware looks for adware, whereas Spybot looks for spyware - two different things.

Check out the following for information on both:

http://webopedia.com/TERM/a/adware.html

http://webopedia.com/TERM/s/spyware.html

I would suggest downloading Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.4, a program that removes spyware, available from:

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,22262,00.asp

Check for updates before running. If you have trouble getting the updates, near the top of the Update Window, click the little arrow next See-Cure  #1(Europe), highlight the next one on the list, See-Cure #2 and try to download the updates. If that doesn't work, try the next one the list. until you get one you can download from. Being a free program, if too many people are using the same site to download the updates, some people will not get them.

Hope this helps!
Lorry